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Star Wars: The High Republic
Star Wars: Trials of the Jedi (The High Republic)
In this epic conclusion to Star Wars: The High Republic, the Jedi face a final confrontation against the Nihil and Marchion Ro.
The Force is everything. A single life connected to all life. All things connected to all other things. This is what the Jedi believe, and this is why they fight. For life…and the light.
For too long, the light has been threatened by Marchion Ro, a sinister despot who will stop at nothing in his quest for power. The conflict with Ro and his marauding Nihil forces has left scars across the galaxy and held the Republic hostage. Countless lives have been lost, beacons of hope have fallen, and the collective courage and resolve of the Republic have been tested like never before. Through it all the Jedi Order has endured, an unwavering candle against the encroaching darkness.
But the Jedi have yet to solve the mystery of the Nameless creatures who feed on the Force. Ro has loosed them upon the galaxy, striking fear into the heart of even the most stalwart Jedi. And yet with every life saved and world freed from Nihil control, the all-consuming blight, which devours everything wherever it appears, threatens to wipe it all away.
Everything now depends on nine brave Jedi, led by Avar Kriss and Elzar Mann, who embark on a treacherous journey to the Nameless homeworld. Their quest: to finally solve the mystery of the Nameless and their connection to the Force, and to stop the blight before its damage becomes irreversible.
But a final confrontation with Marchion Ro awaits. Ro, who is willing to sacrifice everything he's achieved to secure a final victory against the Jedi and carve his name into the very stars for all time.
Nothing less than the fate of everything, perhaps even the Force itself, is at stake.
The Force is everything. A single life connected to all life. All things connected to all other things. This is what the Jedi believe, and this is why they fight. For life…and the light.
For too long, the light has been threatened by Marchion Ro, a sinister despot who will stop at nothing in his quest for power. The conflict with Ro and his marauding Nihil forces has left scars across the galaxy and held the Republic hostage. Countless lives have been lost, beacons of hope have fallen, and the collective courage and resolve of the Republic have been tested like never before. Through it all the Jedi Order has endured, an unwavering candle against the encroaching darkness.
But the Jedi have yet to solve the mystery of the Nameless creatures who feed on the Force. Ro has loosed them upon the galaxy, striking fear into the heart of even the most stalwart Jedi. And yet with every life saved and world freed from Nihil control, the all-consuming blight, which devours everything wherever it appears, threatens to wipe it all away.
Everything now depends on nine brave Jedi, led by Avar Kriss and Elzar Mann, who embark on a treacherous journey to the Nameless homeworld. Their quest: to finally solve the mystery of the Nameless and their connection to the Force, and to stop the blight before its damage becomes irreversible.
But a final confrontation with Marchion Ro awaits. Ro, who is willing to sacrifice everything he's achieved to secure a final victory against the Jedi and carve his name into the very stars for all time.
Nothing less than the fate of everything, perhaps even the Force itself, is at stake.
423 pages, Kindle Edition
First published June 17, 2025
192 people are currently reading
1566 people want to read
About the author
Charles Soule
1,519 books1,688 followersCharles Soule is a #1 New York Times-bestselling novelist, comics author, screenwriter, musician, and lapsed attorney. He has written some of the most prominent stories of the last decade for Marvel, DC and Lucasfilm in addition to his own work, such as his comics Curse Words, Letter 44 and Undiscovered Country, and his original novels Light of the Jedi, The Endless Vessel, The Oracle Year and Anyone. He lives in New York.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 277 reviews
June 18, 2025
So endeth the High Republic series from Star Wars. I've read a lot of long running book series, (Wheel of Time, Star Wars: New Jedi order, Star Trek Post-Nemesis, etc), but this is the first time that I followed it from first day to the finale.
This series needed this book to stick the landing....and it ABSOLUTELY DOES!
First off: Charles Soule is just a terrific prose writer. The way he write the characters, the worldbuilding, the Force, the action, just everything works. When it needs to be flowery and complex it is, and when it needs to be quick and simple it is. Soule just has a way of writing beautiful books, and this one is no different.
Soule has a huge cast to deal with, and winnowing it down to "the nine" was a great choice. I thought that every character worked well and had an excellent storyline. In particular: Elzar and Avar's relationship continues to be delightful to read, Burry and Bell's storyline was great, and the Reath storyline was great.
What I most appreciated was this book has a clear objective and brings a sense of clarity to the series. The ending is within sight and has clear reasons for why it is about to happen.
The "Interlude" chapter's were really fun to read, and reminded me of chapters in "The Wheel of Time", particularly in "The Gathering Storm" and "A Memory of Light".
There are a few nitpicks I have in this book. One is the way Soule depicts "balance" in the force. Another is the way certain characters are used (Ceret and Terec). Other than that, I really thought the book was most excellent.
The most important thing this book had to do was be satisfying. That meant not only give a good ending to our heroes (and some of them don't get the happiest of endings, but its still well written), but also our villains. I thought the Villains in the book were handled excellently.
This book, more than any other in Phase 3, really justifys the existence of Phase 2.
There are a few characters who are from other Charles Soule comics and novel (Light of the Jedi) who make an appearance after being absent for a while, and it was delightful to see them again.
Overall, I thought this was a terrific finale for the High Republic, among the most epic and sweeping of Star Wars stories. A truly excellent finale for the series. 9.3 out of 10!
This series needed this book to stick the landing....and it ABSOLUTELY DOES!
First off: Charles Soule is just a terrific prose writer. The way he write the characters, the worldbuilding, the Force, the action, just everything works. When it needs to be flowery and complex it is, and when it needs to be quick and simple it is. Soule just has a way of writing beautiful books, and this one is no different.
Soule has a huge cast to deal with, and winnowing it down to "the nine" was a great choice. I thought that every character worked well and had an excellent storyline. In particular: Elzar and Avar's relationship continues to be delightful to read, Burry and Bell's storyline was great, and the Reath storyline was great.
What I most appreciated was this book has a clear objective and brings a sense of clarity to the series. The ending is within sight and has clear reasons for why it is about to happen.
The "Interlude" chapter's were really fun to read, and reminded me of chapters in "The Wheel of Time", particularly in "The Gathering Storm" and "A Memory of Light".
There are a few nitpicks I have in this book. One is the way Soule depicts "balance" in the force. Another is the way certain characters are used (Ceret and Terec). Other than that, I really thought the book was most excellent.
The most important thing this book had to do was be satisfying. That meant not only give a good ending to our heroes (and some of them don't get the happiest of endings, but its still well written), but also our villains. I thought the Villains in the book were handled excellently.
This book, more than any other in Phase 3, really justifys the existence of Phase 2.
There are a few characters who are from other Charles Soule comics and novel (Light of the Jedi) who make an appearance after being absent for a while, and it was delightful to see them again.
Overall, I thought this was a terrific finale for the High Republic, among the most epic and sweeping of Star Wars stories. A truly excellent finale for the series. 9.3 out of 10!
December 11, 2025
Ugh. Thank God that series is finally over.
I had somewhat high hopes several years ago when Project Luminous was revealed. This was to be Disney/Lucasfilm's grand plan for what to do with the Star Wars franchise after "Rise of Skywalker".
My hopes were dashed with the first book in the High Republic series, "Light of the Jedi", by Charles Soule. The problems I had were many: too many characters, none of whom were given any time to develop, a villain that didn't appear until the very end of the novel, and the villain's revelation was a big letdown: space pirates? Really?
On top of that was an attempt by Disney/Lucasfilm to rake in more money by aligning all media into a continuous storyline, which sounds great, except not everybody utilizes all media. I don't play video games, and I didn't read the young adult novels. I started reading the comic books only because they introduced plot threads that were carried over into the novels, and if I hadn't read them, I wouldn't know what the hell was going on.
That's not even the real point, though. The whole series felt like it was a series written by a committee. Yes, there were individual author's names on the covers of each book, but they all read like they were put through an AI story-generator. If humans actually wrote these books, you couldn't tell by reading them.
I never felt any real affinity for the Jedi characters, mainly because they were all so two-dimensional. And the villains were just stupid. Marchion Ro is, hands down, the most uninteresting villain of any Star Wars series. This could explain why he had fewer and fewer scenes and speaking parts with each new book. And the "wrap-up" and capture of Ro in Charles Soule's concluding book in the series, "Trials of the Jedi", was so anticlimactic as to be almost irrelevant. Seriously, if you blink, you'll miss it.
This series was a let-down from the outset, and it never improved. Instead, it just got worse with each new book, which I honestly didn't think that was possible.
Please don't get me wrong: I still love Star Wars, and I always will, but I have to call Disney/Lucasfilm out on this: The High Republic Project Luminous project was a total bust. If the company has any hopes of course-correcting, they need to jump ship and be done with The High Republic forthwith.
I had somewhat high hopes several years ago when Project Luminous was revealed. This was to be Disney/Lucasfilm's grand plan for what to do with the Star Wars franchise after "Rise of Skywalker".
My hopes were dashed with the first book in the High Republic series, "Light of the Jedi", by Charles Soule. The problems I had were many: too many characters, none of whom were given any time to develop, a villain that didn't appear until the very end of the novel, and the villain's revelation was a big letdown: space pirates? Really?
On top of that was an attempt by Disney/Lucasfilm to rake in more money by aligning all media into a continuous storyline, which sounds great, except not everybody utilizes all media. I don't play video games, and I didn't read the young adult novels. I started reading the comic books only because they introduced plot threads that were carried over into the novels, and if I hadn't read them, I wouldn't know what the hell was going on.
That's not even the real point, though. The whole series felt like it was a series written by a committee. Yes, there were individual author's names on the covers of each book, but they all read like they were put through an AI story-generator. If humans actually wrote these books, you couldn't tell by reading them.
I never felt any real affinity for the Jedi characters, mainly because they were all so two-dimensional. And the villains were just stupid. Marchion Ro is, hands down, the most uninteresting villain of any Star Wars series. This could explain why he had fewer and fewer scenes and speaking parts with each new book. And the "wrap-up" and capture of Ro in Charles Soule's concluding book in the series, "Trials of the Jedi", was so anticlimactic as to be almost irrelevant. Seriously, if you blink, you'll miss it.
This series was a let-down from the outset, and it never improved. Instead, it just got worse with each new book, which I honestly didn't think that was possible.
Please don't get me wrong: I still love Star Wars, and I always will, but I have to call Disney/Lucasfilm out on this: The High Republic Project Luminous project was a total bust. If the company has any hopes of course-correcting, they need to jump ship and be done with The High Republic forthwith.
June 19, 2025
I really hate to equate this book to “Avengers Endgame” but you know what I mean when I make that comparison. This is the conclusion to a multi-year story. Literally everything has been building to this moment. It requires a story that is epic in scope. That’s a lot of pressure for Charles Soule but, thankfully, he is up to the task. If you’ve been one of those people who’ve consumed everything High Republic, this is a huge reward. If you’ve only been reading the adult novels, you’ll still be able to understand everything. Since I am part of the former, I loved every single moment of this book.
There’s so much that I want to discuss but won’t just yet because of spoilers, but I am amazed how Soule was able to give proper justice to every single character of this story that we’ve followed from the beginning. It’s difficult handling one main character, much less the cast of dozens that this book has. I almost greedily wish it was a bit longer just so I could spend some more time with these characters. I really love everyone here and want to discuss them but alas…spoilers. I’ll just say any remaining plot threads are pretty much resolved.
The pacing of this was incredible. I was engaged the whole time. There were times I was legitimately fearful for our Jedi who’ve embarked on this dangerous mission. There are chapters following regular citizens of the galaxy as they react to what’s going on and I was invested in those too. 422 pages really flew by. From the missions to the politics to the battles…everything just flowed effortlessly.
Soule also does something with the Force here that I found brilliant and galaxy-brain but I’m curious how this will impact the overall lore. I’m not one of those people that believes nothing can ever be changed but I know there are some aggressive fans out there who won’t react well to any lore changes. But then again, they probably aren’t reading a book anyway.
I have some minor nitpicks, mainly as it pertains so some characters who didn’t have as big a role as I wanted them to, but I understand this book already had a large cast as it is.
Overall, this was a spectacular conclusion to the best thing Lucasfilm Publishing has done under Disney. I am going to miss these characters and this era so much, but I do think there are still some stories left to tell. There are a few endings for character’s that don’t really feel like the *end* and as Lucasfilm has said, High Republic stories will continue, this is just the end of the beginning.
There’s so much that I want to discuss but won’t just yet because of spoilers, but I am amazed how Soule was able to give proper justice to every single character of this story that we’ve followed from the beginning. It’s difficult handling one main character, much less the cast of dozens that this book has. I almost greedily wish it was a bit longer just so I could spend some more time with these characters. I really love everyone here and want to discuss them but alas…spoilers. I’ll just say any remaining plot threads are pretty much resolved.
The pacing of this was incredible. I was engaged the whole time. There were times I was legitimately fearful for our Jedi who’ve embarked on this dangerous mission. There are chapters following regular citizens of the galaxy as they react to what’s going on and I was invested in those too. 422 pages really flew by. From the missions to the politics to the battles…everything just flowed effortlessly.
Soule also does something with the Force here that I found brilliant and galaxy-brain but I’m curious how this will impact the overall lore. I’m not one of those people that believes nothing can ever be changed but I know there are some aggressive fans out there who won’t react well to any lore changes. But then again, they probably aren’t reading a book anyway.
I have some minor nitpicks, mainly as it pertains so some characters who didn’t have as big a role as I wanted them to, but I understand this book already had a large cast as it is.
Overall, this was a spectacular conclusion to the best thing Lucasfilm Publishing has done under Disney. I am going to miss these characters and this era so much, but I do think there are still some stories left to tell. There are a few endings for character’s that don’t really feel like the *end* and as Lucasfilm has said, High Republic stories will continue, this is just the end of the beginning.
July 18, 2025
Yeah… I’m speechless. A masterpiece I will hold in my heart forever. I’ve cherished every step of this long High Republic journey. I can’t wait to read the final few comics. For light and life. 🥹
June 30, 2025
This is the final High Republic publishing initiative (adult) novel, to my knowledge, and though I am glad I was along for the ride it must be admitted that it was an uneven one.
Since this book serves as the proverbial capstone to the entire overarching narrative I cannot easily separate it from All That Went Before, but in fairness I'll try.
The author brings us lots of different POVs over the course of the book, allowing us to spend time with many of the High Republic's luminaries (heheh) during the course of at least three concurrent crises. To avoid spoilers I won't detail precisely what the Big Threat is, but in keeping with Star Wars tradition of cataclysmic dangers to the Galaxy be prepared for that kind of scale.
Against this backdrop we get much more human-scale stories of individuals both connected and unconnected to the Force striving to do, undo or prevent harm in any number of ways. Although there is a large scale planetary battle don't expect too much Timothy Zahn-style campaigning, this was always going to be a book about personal journeys, motives and sacrifices and that's what you get for the final third or so.
I think we're blessed to be getting this quantity of new SW storytelling at this level. As someone who can quite clearly remember "the Dark Times" of the mid-80s-mid-90s when there wasn't all that much coming out it's a great time to be a fan. That said I don't think I'll be dressing up as Elzar Mann for Halloween anytime soon, but that's OK.
(Hmmm, maybe Geode would be more my speed anyway...)
Since this book serves as the proverbial capstone to the entire overarching narrative I cannot easily separate it from All That Went Before, but in fairness I'll try.
The author brings us lots of different POVs over the course of the book, allowing us to spend time with many of the High Republic's luminaries (heheh) during the course of at least three concurrent crises. To avoid spoilers I won't detail precisely what the Big Threat is, but in keeping with Star Wars tradition of cataclysmic dangers to the Galaxy be prepared for that kind of scale.
Against this backdrop we get much more human-scale stories of individuals both connected and unconnected to the Force striving to do, undo or prevent harm in any number of ways. Although there is a large scale planetary battle don't expect too much Timothy Zahn-style campaigning, this was always going to be a book about personal journeys, motives and sacrifices and that's what you get for the final third or so.
I think we're blessed to be getting this quantity of new SW storytelling at this level. As someone who can quite clearly remember "the Dark Times" of the mid-80s-mid-90s when there wasn't all that much coming out it's a great time to be a fan. That said I don't think I'll be dressing up as Elzar Mann for Halloween anytime soon, but that's OK.
(Hmmm, maybe Geode would be more my speed anyway...)
June 11, 2025
goodbye, goodbye, goodbye, high republic. you were bigger than the whole sky. (4.5/5)
January 26, 2025
GODDD IM SO HYPED FOR THIS BOOK ITS NOT EVEN OUT YET AND IM GIVING IT FIVE STARS
October 18, 2025
Having followed "Project Luminous" since its tease, before the announcement, and having read literally every book, comic, and manga along the way.
Did I read and binge this entire book on day 1? You can bet your nips I did, skidmark.
I don't even know the words for this review, and other people will say it better.
But this book has such a task, to tie every single story and plot point together and draw them together to tell a compelling and tense finale. But the way it drops in every little story beat from the entire initiative and brings everything home so brilliantly.
Powerful, emotional, heartbreaking, and engaging. It's a beautiful Star Wars story that really hits you where it hurts. Thoroughly rewarding every reader no matter how much of the High Republic they have read.
While this is the final novel in the luminous initiative, there were definitely some fun strings left unpulled that I am very excited to see. I can't wait to see more stories set in the High Republic.
I feel that it's not hyperbole to say that every character and his dog gets their own POV chapter in this book. A story written from so many points of view that all come together and build momentum to a brilliant climax in that way that Charles Soule (5 novels in) does so splendidly.
We are all the Republic.
Edit on reread: I've been wanting to reread this book since I first closed it. And I promised myself I would before the year was out. Im so glad I did, I loved it even more the second time round.
Did I read and binge this entire book on day 1? You can bet your nips I did, skidmark.
I don't even know the words for this review, and other people will say it better.
But this book has such a task, to tie every single story and plot point together and draw them together to tell a compelling and tense finale. But the way it drops in every little story beat from the entire initiative and brings everything home so brilliantly.
Powerful, emotional, heartbreaking, and engaging. It's a beautiful Star Wars story that really hits you where it hurts. Thoroughly rewarding every reader no matter how much of the High Republic they have read.
While this is the final novel in the luminous initiative, there were definitely some fun strings left unpulled that I am very excited to see. I can't wait to see more stories set in the High Republic.
I feel that it's not hyperbole to say that every character and his dog gets their own POV chapter in this book. A story written from so many points of view that all come together and build momentum to a brilliant climax in that way that Charles Soule (5 novels in) does so splendidly.
We are all the Republic.
Edit on reread: I've been wanting to reread this book since I first closed it. And I promised myself I would before the year was out. Im so glad I did, I loved it even more the second time round.
Read
August 26, 2025The High Republic journey has come to end and somehow I'm both incredibly sad and relieved. It has to be so challenging for one book to be responsible for the ending of an epic series that included Adult, YA, Junior, and Children's novels, comics and manga. I do feel like Charles Soule pulled it as well as anyone could especially not having the luxury of future books to rely on.
I was very satisfied with the conclusion overall mostly since some of my favorite characters were very present in this novel: Bell, Ember, Burryaga, and Reath.
I would encourage any Star Wars fan who loves to read, to read this series. It's completed now and there are so many reading guides (although I suggest publication order). You don't have to read the comics but I recommend reading all Adult, YA, and Junior books. It's set up in three phases, similar to the movies. Phase One/OT, prequels, then sequels
Maybe spoilers:
🌌I got Mortis arc vibes towards the end with the Force nexus and what Avar Kriss and Elzar Mann ended up doing.
🌌For some reason, Marchion Ro's story felt a little anticlimactic and unsatisfying. Something about the part where he figured out the meaning of life as a child at the dinner table- having your decisions matter and being in control just felt too simple for his character IMO. Maybe that is the point though?
🌌I enjoyed the open ending with Reath and Aslan
I was very satisfied with the conclusion overall mostly since some of my favorite characters were very present in this novel: Bell, Ember, Burryaga, and Reath.
I would encourage any Star Wars fan who loves to read, to read this series. It's completed now and there are so many reading guides (although I suggest publication order). You don't have to read the comics but I recommend reading all Adult, YA, and Junior books. It's set up in three phases, similar to the movies. Phase One/OT, prequels, then sequels
Maybe spoilers:
🌌I got Mortis arc vibes towards the end with the Force nexus and what Avar Kriss and Elzar Mann ended up doing.
🌌For some reason, Marchion Ro's story felt a little anticlimactic and unsatisfying. Something about the part where he figured out the meaning of life as a child at the dinner table- having your decisions matter and being in control just felt too simple for his character IMO. Maybe that is the point though?
🌌I enjoyed the open ending with Reath and Aslan
August 12, 2025
A very satisfying conclusion to this new Jedi era. The characters we have come to know and love see their story arcs come to a satisfying conclusion, leaving the reader feeling fulfilled. The tension builds nicely once again with the revelation of Marchion Ro's endgame, which leaves us wondering how the crisis will be resolved.
Not everything about this new era has been good. Some volumes suffered from weaknesses in pacing—even in this novel, the interludes are completely unnecessary—and the multimedia plan, which is not uninteresting on paper, is a disaster to follow and sometimes borders on being a hindrance to the main plot.
But overall, I won't deny my enjoyment: this new approach to the Star Wars universe is a success and well worth discovering and appreciating.
Not everything about this new era has been good. Some volumes suffered from weaknesses in pacing—even in this novel, the interludes are completely unnecessary—and the multimedia plan, which is not uninteresting on paper, is a disaster to follow and sometimes borders on being a hindrance to the main plot.
But overall, I won't deny my enjoyment: this new approach to the Star Wars universe is a success and well worth discovering and appreciating.
June 3, 2025
Without any spoilers (but with all of my praise!), “Trials of the Force” is a beautifully poignant finish to this era of The High Republic. The title is exactly what these characters experience throughout the novel and how they overcome, grow, and change from it all. If you think you know these characters, this is the book that brings them down to a molecular level. You’re going to love your favorite characters even more after this one.
“Trials” strengthened my love for this series, just as “Light of the Jedi” pulled me right into it, ready to know more. It’s a bittersweet moment as the reader going into the story thinking “this is it”. And while “Light of the Jedi” is an intense start from page one, “Trials” is a slow build to a well paid off, emotional crescendo. I couldn’t have asked for a more neatly-tied bow on a final installment, although there were a few moments I felt needed a bit more explanation—but if anything, that gives me hope that it’s not truly the end, just a goodbye for now.
Charles’s prose is so human and it had me feeling like I was alive and experiencing every happening with each of the Nine and beyond. However personal, I felt it was very strong in some points of the novel but in others, it felt like it was a bit out of place. That’s not to say it didn’t fit the tone of the novel for me and it never took me out of the storyline. Soule has an excellent way of storytelling and I think it fit perfectly for what was being told throughout, especially in the latter half of the novel.
If you’re going into this one on day one, I highly recommend staying off of socials until you’re finished! You will not want to be spoiled for this one!
“Trials” strengthened my love for this series, just as “Light of the Jedi” pulled me right into it, ready to know more. It’s a bittersweet moment as the reader going into the story thinking “this is it”. And while “Light of the Jedi” is an intense start from page one, “Trials” is a slow build to a well paid off, emotional crescendo. I couldn’t have asked for a more neatly-tied bow on a final installment, although there were a few moments I felt needed a bit more explanation—but if anything, that gives me hope that it’s not truly the end, just a goodbye for now.
Charles’s prose is so human and it had me feeling like I was alive and experiencing every happening with each of the Nine and beyond. However personal, I felt it was very strong in some points of the novel but in others, it felt like it was a bit out of place. That’s not to say it didn’t fit the tone of the novel for me and it never took me out of the storyline. Soule has an excellent way of storytelling and I think it fit perfectly for what was being told throughout, especially in the latter half of the novel.
If you’re going into this one on day one, I highly recommend staying off of socials until you’re finished! You will not want to be spoiled for this one!
June 22, 2025
I have mixed feelings about this book—
As far as functioning as an end of a series, I think this book did a good job at tying everything up and/or together in the end, but as a standalone book, it felt a bit disjointed and some plot strings felt loose and uninvolved. I loved Porter’s ending for example (and it was important for him to have his ending in the High Republic), but it felt a bit random within the rest of the book. I think with a series like this though, that problem was almost inevitable.
For a final book in the series the beginning also felt a bit too re-hashed to me. For example, I don’t understand why we were being told what Elzar looked like in book like 15 or whatever (mind you, it was also the second chapter he appeared in in that book itself.)
(Spoiler-ish here: Also I kinda get annoyed with Lina Soh always making the “right decision” every time, but that’s neither here nor there.)
To be honest, some of my issues with the book I think are that Soule as an author isn’t really to my taste. I don’t particularly enjoy his prose and I don’t love the way he uses characters to structure his plots. I felt like there wasn’t a clear protagonist or general central few characters in this, much like my main gripe with Light of the Jedi. All High Republic books are multi-POV, but I think the other authors do a better job at zeroing in on who is really the heart of the story. Soule in my opinion is a little bit too all over the place and it makes it a bit more difficult to invest in the plot and connect to the characters. However, I did enjoy the character work in this one more than Light of the Jedi, but some of that was that I am already familiar with these characters and already care about them now—he doesn’t have to convince me.
One thing a really did enjoy that I did not expect from him was how well he handled Reath and his relationship with Azlin. Reath is one of my favorites from this series, but before this book I don’t think anyone other than Claudia Gray, who originated his character, really got him right at all. Soule overall I think did a great job with consistent characterization from the series, including with characters he didn’t invent. Also, the relationship dynamic between Reath and Azlin is so odd and intriguing in general. Love it.
Now for actual plot things, I also have mixed feelings. I do like how the series ended and explained Marchion’s story and motivations, but the answers about the nameless… ehhhh…. I don’t love the way this book conceives “balance” of the Force in general. Equal dark and light does not equal balance. The dark side, in Star Wars, is a corrupting force. I’m not a huge Avar or Elzar fan, but their ending still seemed odd and a bit disappointing to me though. And Elzar’s end made NO sense, logically, imo. (SPOILERS HERE: You physically cannot turn to the dark side for selfless reasons. That makes NO SENSE. The heart of the dark side is selfishness.)
Overall I still enjoyed the book, but I didn’t feel as emotionally invested as I usually do with High Republic books. It wasn’t bad as far as the series goes, but it is hardly a standout.
As far as functioning as an end of a series, I think this book did a good job at tying everything up and/or together in the end, but as a standalone book, it felt a bit disjointed and some plot strings felt loose and uninvolved. I loved Porter’s ending for example (and it was important for him to have his ending in the High Republic), but it felt a bit random within the rest of the book. I think with a series like this though, that problem was almost inevitable.
For a final book in the series the beginning also felt a bit too re-hashed to me. For example, I don’t understand why we were being told what Elzar looked like in book like 15 or whatever (mind you, it was also the second chapter he appeared in in that book itself.)
(Spoiler-ish here: Also I kinda get annoyed with Lina Soh always making the “right decision” every time, but that’s neither here nor there.)
To be honest, some of my issues with the book I think are that Soule as an author isn’t really to my taste. I don’t particularly enjoy his prose and I don’t love the way he uses characters to structure his plots. I felt like there wasn’t a clear protagonist or general central few characters in this, much like my main gripe with Light of the Jedi. All High Republic books are multi-POV, but I think the other authors do a better job at zeroing in on who is really the heart of the story. Soule in my opinion is a little bit too all over the place and it makes it a bit more difficult to invest in the plot and connect to the characters. However, I did enjoy the character work in this one more than Light of the Jedi, but some of that was that I am already familiar with these characters and already care about them now—he doesn’t have to convince me.
One thing a really did enjoy that I did not expect from him was how well he handled Reath and his relationship with Azlin. Reath is one of my favorites from this series, but before this book I don’t think anyone other than Claudia Gray, who originated his character, really got him right at all. Soule overall I think did a great job with consistent characterization from the series, including with characters he didn’t invent. Also, the relationship dynamic between Reath and Azlin is so odd and intriguing in general. Love it.
Now for actual plot things, I also have mixed feelings. I do like how the series ended and explained Marchion’s story and motivations, but the answers about the nameless… ehhhh…. I don’t love the way this book conceives “balance” of the Force in general. Equal dark and light does not equal balance. The dark side, in Star Wars, is a corrupting force. I’m not a huge Avar or Elzar fan, but their ending still seemed odd and a bit disappointing to me though. And Elzar’s end made NO sense, logically, imo. (SPOILERS HERE: You physically cannot turn to the dark side for selfless reasons. That makes NO SENSE. The heart of the dark side is selfishness.)
Overall I still enjoyed the book, but I didn’t feel as emotionally invested as I usually do with High Republic books. It wasn’t bad as far as the series goes, but it is hardly a standout.
June 20, 2025
"You were a Jedi once, have you forgotten?"
"I have forgotten more than you have ever learned."
"I have forgotten more than you have ever learned."
June 22, 2025
Well, it's here! I was so excited to read the finale of The High Republic, despite some misgivings I've been having with the series for a while. Alas, my feelings for this book can best be described as a disappointment in three acts.
Act I: The novel as a novel
Trials of the Jedi does something I've always hated, namely characters' fuses being extremely short, so that they constantly go into conflict mode when a calm conversation would have resolved or prevented the issue. It's a cheap way of creating problems and extending the plot, and I've never seen it used well. What's worse though, is that key moments of the story rely on multiple Force users being unable to use basic telekinesis against various important objects held by a non-Force sensitive dude fully exposed to their attention. Seriously, the majority of the novel's main plot could have been resolved halfway through if a SINGLE ONE among a serious number of Jedi had... just... used... the Force.
Other than that, the book just feels disjointed, like a lot of things HAD to be there, but Soule didn't really care about them and was writing them under duress. The Eriadu line feels like filler, what should be its big climax - an afterthought. The Nameless planet line, which SHOULD be the focus of the story, also comes across as rushed and poorly fleshed out. Most of the big reveals come and go without a real punch, even when they are genuinely surprising.
Act II: The novel as a finale of The High Republic
I wanted a book that FELT like a finale. One grand ending, comprised of the multiple culminations of the core storylines of the High Republic. Instead, we got a series of fussy little conflicts and interactions none of which felt particularly epic or like a finale. Multiple previous novels in the series - both adult and YA - have had bigger and stronger sense of importance than this. And what upsets me most about it, is that I KNOW Charles Soule can deliver on this front, so I am just baffled as to how unimportant this book ended up feeling until basically its epilogue chapters.
Act III: The High Republic as a whole
To be clear, I don't blame Trials of the Jedi or Soule for this, but the book also does nothing to change the trajectory of the series. The High Republic in general has not been feeling satisfying since basically the beginning of Phase II. What started as a compelling and dramatic conflict lost all momentum with the shockingly unnecessary flashback period that ended up providing some shockingly unnecessary context to things nobody was looking for more context on, only to be followed by a lackluster Phase III full of micro-conflicts between unmemorable and largely interchangeable heroes and also-there villains.
But the true failure of the series ended up being its MAIN villain. While Marchion Ro was a compelling personality, the story he was placed in simply didn't allow him to amount to all that much in the end. He felt relegated to a secondary role for most of Phase III, with other minor villains with zero compelling qualities taking center stage. A cowardly swordfighting general, a mad scientist, the galaxy's least interesting corrupt senator... All of it in the service of an overall story that amounted to a whiny, mentally unwell child's tantrum that he chose to make everyone's problem.
I salute the decision to not make this period about the Sith or otherwise tie it directly to the Dark Side, but in the end, the overall effect was of an ok-at-best concept that should have been a single trilogy rather than tens of stories spread among multiple age groups and mediums. The Nihil never added up to a compelling threat (in fact they seemingly stopped existing as more than a nuisance in Phase III), Marchion Ro never acquired the gravitas and pathos he was clearly intended to have. The mystery of the Nameless ended up being an "oh, ok", even though at least on that front we might get future stories set in the current periods of the universe.
In the end, I still enjoyed my time in the High Republic period. I think it's fun to see the Republic as a functional entity that on occasion even rises up to its lofty ideals. There is potential for good storytelling there, and we saw some in the series. But I believe making the entire thing center around ONE big conflict was ultimately a mistake. And I hope that wherever Disney chooses to take Star Wars to next, they learn from this experience and deliver either a tighter story with clearer stakes and more memorable characters, OR an open-ended period that allows authors the freedom to tell THEIR stories in it.
Act I: The novel as a novel
Trials of the Jedi does something I've always hated, namely characters' fuses being extremely short, so that they constantly go into conflict mode when a calm conversation would have resolved or prevented the issue. It's a cheap way of creating problems and extending the plot, and I've never seen it used well. What's worse though, is that key moments of the story rely on multiple Force users being unable to use basic telekinesis against various important objects held by a non-Force sensitive dude fully exposed to their attention. Seriously, the majority of the novel's main plot could have been resolved halfway through if a SINGLE ONE among a serious number of Jedi had... just... used... the Force.
Other than that, the book just feels disjointed, like a lot of things HAD to be there, but Soule didn't really care about them and was writing them under duress. The Eriadu line feels like filler, what should be its big climax - an afterthought. The Nameless planet line, which SHOULD be the focus of the story, also comes across as rushed and poorly fleshed out. Most of the big reveals come and go without a real punch, even when they are genuinely surprising.
Act II: The novel as a finale of The High Republic
I wanted a book that FELT like a finale. One grand ending, comprised of the multiple culminations of the core storylines of the High Republic. Instead, we got a series of fussy little conflicts and interactions none of which felt particularly epic or like a finale. Multiple previous novels in the series - both adult and YA - have had bigger and stronger sense of importance than this. And what upsets me most about it, is that I KNOW Charles Soule can deliver on this front, so I am just baffled as to how unimportant this book ended up feeling until basically its epilogue chapters.
Act III: The High Republic as a whole
To be clear, I don't blame Trials of the Jedi or Soule for this, but the book also does nothing to change the trajectory of the series. The High Republic in general has not been feeling satisfying since basically the beginning of Phase II. What started as a compelling and dramatic conflict lost all momentum with the shockingly unnecessary flashback period that ended up providing some shockingly unnecessary context to things nobody was looking for more context on, only to be followed by a lackluster Phase III full of micro-conflicts between unmemorable and largely interchangeable heroes and also-there villains.
But the true failure of the series ended up being its MAIN villain. While Marchion Ro was a compelling personality, the story he was placed in simply didn't allow him to amount to all that much in the end. He felt relegated to a secondary role for most of Phase III, with other minor villains with zero compelling qualities taking center stage. A cowardly swordfighting general, a mad scientist, the galaxy's least interesting corrupt senator... All of it in the service of an overall story that amounted to a whiny, mentally unwell child's tantrum that he chose to make everyone's problem.
I salute the decision to not make this period about the Sith or otherwise tie it directly to the Dark Side, but in the end, the overall effect was of an ok-at-best concept that should have been a single trilogy rather than tens of stories spread among multiple age groups and mediums. The Nihil never added up to a compelling threat (in fact they seemingly stopped existing as more than a nuisance in Phase III), Marchion Ro never acquired the gravitas and pathos he was clearly intended to have. The mystery of the Nameless ended up being an "oh, ok", even though at least on that front we might get future stories set in the current periods of the universe.
In the end, I still enjoyed my time in the High Republic period. I think it's fun to see the Republic as a functional entity that on occasion even rises up to its lofty ideals. There is potential for good storytelling there, and we saw some in the series. But I believe making the entire thing center around ONE big conflict was ultimately a mistake. And I hope that wherever Disney chooses to take Star Wars to next, they learn from this experience and deliver either a tighter story with clearer stakes and more memorable characters, OR an open-ended period that allows authors the freedom to tell THEIR stories in it.
Read
August 9, 2025Hey all :) Here's the script to my video review of the entire High Republic series. Check it out if you want! https://youtu.be/glNuf1015-k
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The High Republic Publishing Initiative - Various
In 2018, Lucasfilm Publishing handpicked a group of 5 the top Star Wars writers, nicknamed “The All-Star Initiative” and gathered them at Skywalker Ranch in California to discuss the major plot points and general outline to something nicknamed “Project Luminous”
The group was soon joined by an additional small handful of authors, and the team would go on to create “The High Republic Publishing Initiative”, a massive yet cohesive set of stories set across a previously untouched 250 year time chunk in Star Wars history.
But not just through books, it started with a short story in 2020 and concluded with a comic in summer 2025, but the publishing consisted of the following mediums
- NOTE: I don’t think this initiative will be updated, but this is as of writing this review, 7/4/25.
- 8 Adult Novels
- 8 Young Adult Novels
- 10 Junior Novels
- 3 Young Reader Books
- 3 Audio Dramas
- 127 Comics
- 6 Mangas
- 32 Short Stories
- 2 Short Story Collections
- 1 Reference Books
So, join me as I attempt to do the extremely irresponsible thing of summarizing my thoughts on hundreds of hours of consumed media down into a ~15 minute review.
Introduction
- Now, I have something to admit: I am a fraud. I only read
- All of the adult novels
- All of the audio dramas
- All 127 comics
- All of the mangas
- A handful of the short stories
- … Meaning I have not read most of the children’s and young adult content, but just about everything else.
- So, like a Reddit commenter, I am here to give my opinions on something I don’t fully grasp.
- But no, all jokes aside, this will largely be a review of the backbone of the publishing initiative, the 8 adult novels, as well as what I consider the sidekick to them: the comics. But, mostly those novels.
- Speaking of what’s considered important, the way I’d consider the content is kinda like a pyramid, where you’ve got the most foundational things that happen in the initiative on the bottom layer. And those would be the adult novels. If you want to compare them to the larger Star Wars universe, these are like the movies of the initiative.
- The importance of the rest of the content is going to be hotly debated within the fandom, but I would say…
- on the next rung up you’ve probably got the Young Adult Novels and Comics,
- while a rung above that you’ve got the Mangas, Junior Novels, Young Reader Books, and Audio Dramas
- and then on the top rung you’ve got stuff like the short stories and reference books
- Again, super rough estimate on my end, the point I’m trying to make here is just that every piece of content in the initiative is not created equal, they can’t be. The most major events in the overall story of the High Republic happen in the adult novels and as you make your way up the pyramid things get more auxiliary to the main storyline of the initiative.
- And I loved how this format worked. I'll get into it more later, but this keeps the barrier of entry to something like this relatively low compared to how massive the body of works in general is.
- Let me really quickly summarize the structure of publishing as well. The High Republic Publishing initiative is divided into 3 “phases”, and each of those phases is divided into 2 or 3 “waves”. Each wave gets its own adult novel, which presents the main conflict of that wave.
- I know, it’s kind of confusing, but bear with me.
- The phases are structured like the Star Wars movies: phase one takes place, then phase 2 takes place 150 years before phase 1, and then when phase 3 comes along, it just picks up right where phase 1 ended.
- This phase structure as well as the hierarchy of works keeps the initiative focused and does a great job maintaining a cohesive plot line in what could have potentially been a really confusing bunch of works.
Building a universe
- Alright, now that we’ve done our chores and talked about the structure of the initiative, let’s talk something cool: the universe of the High Republic.
- If you didn't know it already, the High Republic is a period in the Star Wars universe that takes place about 200 years before Star Wars: Episode I: The Phantom Menace.
- This is when the republic and, more importantly, the Jedi are at their zenith. They’re sporting their flashy robes, they’re sticking to their morals, and they’re generally well liked.
- In general, this is kind of a Star Wars renaissance era. It’s a time of exploration and expansion, Jedi are exploring never before visited civilizations and welcoming them into the Republic. The Jedi are accepting; they have a very liberal and open-minded view on the force.
- It’s also a time of scientific progress, brilliant minds are supported in their creation of new technology.
- In general, vibes are good. So, let’s talk about little bit about the universe specifically within the context of the publishing initiative.
- Even if you’ve watched the Star Wars movies or even read some books or comics, a lot of the High Republic is going to feel new to you. Yah there are lightsabers, and spaceships, and the force, but most of what you’re reading page to page feels new.
- In a timeline that has otherwise become extremely bloated with authors trying to fit 100 massive events in the span of like 10 years, the authors getting to work with a relatively untouched era in Star Wars history is refreshing.
- The authors get to tell their own stories largely without interference or constraints from other main canon events, a real novelty in Star Wars storytelling.
- So, as much as anything still within Star Wars can be, this feels like the authors’ own Sci-Fi universe carved out within the Star Wars timeline.
- The big issue with something like this is, you can't rely on previously created stakes in a way that most Star Wars content does. The authors can't tie in their stories directly with something like blowing up the death star, or the battle of Endor or Palpatine's return, they have to make their own stakes.
- And that’s something I think they do really well. Literally, the first chapter of the first book describes this event called “The Great Hyperspace Disaster” and most of the books have some sort of seminal event that gets referenced repeatedly throughout the series.
- And this recurrence does a great job bolstering their importance such that by the end of reading all this media, something like “The Republic Fair on Valo” feels as much “Star Wars” to me as Order 66 or The Battle of Hoth.
- And all of those main events happen in the adult novels, so you don't have to worry about missing monumental moments if you only want to read those. But that's not to say that reading the YA books or comics or mangas won’t add depth and critical information about a bit more minor events as well.
- When I read “The Book of the New Sun”, I often found passages frustrating because they were clearly referencing something religiously or contextually that I just didn't have the background to understand.
- But even for the stuff in this series that reference content from side material like a manga or an audio drama, it doesn't feel like they just hang you out to dry. References are more like easter eggs massaged into the story than distracting references.
- Let me give an example. In one of the adult novels I read someone is walking on a new planet, and they find an abandoned Jedi ship and lightsaber. Now, when I read this, I thought that it was just a mysterious quirk of the new planet. But I learned after reading the book that apparently one of the plotlines in a young adult book centers around the Jedi that crashed and died on that planet, leaving their ship and saber there.
- Did I need to know that? No. But was the moment probably really, really cool for someone who had read the YA book? Hell yah!
- In fact, I'd even call all the phase 2, the “flashback phase” a bit unnecessary. It provides gratifying background but you can still understand what’s going on if you just read the first and third phases.
- And thus lies the beauty of the initiative: the more content you consume, the more you get out of it. And it feels *linear* and *consistent* in how it rewards readers for how much they’ve read.
Characters
- I spoke a bit about how this has the unique attribute of feeling the most cut off from traditional Star Wars as any set of content. And the place where this is probably the most apparent is in the characters.
- You’re not getting Luke Skywalker, Vader isn’t showing up, and somehow, Palpatine does not return.
- But there are a TON of new characters, and to be honest, that felt pretty overwhelming at first. So much so that, for the first few books actually, I made a document where I pasted pictures of the characters and their names underneath so whenever a character’s name was said I could be like “oh yah, he’s that guy”.
- But it definitely gets better as the series goes on. There are new characters introduced, but plenty of the main characters stick around and come into and out of book, comic, etc. storylines.
- And there are hits and misses. Some of my new favorite Star Wars characters of all time are introduced in this initiative (shoutout Ty Yorrick and Qort), but there were ones that didn’t click with me too much as well. And it’s not like I think the characters I liked less were poorly written, it's more just like when you watch a reality TV show like “The Amazing Race” or “Love Island” for you brits. When your favorite contestant is on screen, you're gonna sit up in your seat and pay extra attention and it's not like you shut the show off when they're not on screen, but it’s extra fun when they’re there.
- In fact, one of the three main Jedi really just wasn’t doing it for me but it by no means ruined things for me. There are so many characters that fit every shape, size, species, and structure that nobody is ever really dwelled upon for too long.
- And another thing that's a big benefit of being largely disconnected from the overall Star Wars storyline is that they can do whatever the hell they want with these characters. And that is a rarity in Star Wars. Most of the well-known Star Wars characters have essentially all major life events predetermined, meaning that the stakes of any story you tell about any of those characters can only be so high.
- With completely new characters in a completely new era, the sky is the limit. They can kill off any character they want. And they do. They can make any sort of galaxy-defining moments at any point, and they do that as well.
- No set of characters is complete without some killer antagonists. And, as is a recurring theme in this review, the authors of the High Republic can’t rely on the low hanging fruit most of Star Wars uses by just pitting the characters against the empire or Palpatine or some new Sith.
- One of the recurring lines in advertisement for the series was “what do the Jedi fear”, and while I thought the main villain of the initiative was a bit boilerplate, stereotypical evil dude, I think the authors hit the nail on the head with the other threats in this series, of which there are plenty.
Consistent in Spirit
- Okay, so there’s a bunch of new characters, it takes place over a million books and comics, but does it feel cohesive? Does it feel consistent? Yes.
- I think probably the most dangerous thing to an initiative like this beyond the obvious of making sure all the pieces fit together is that it has the risk of feeling like each author has their own agenda they want to push when it’s their time to shine.
- But this group of authors felt like they were all on the same page. I listened to a ton of interviews with the authors on YouTube, and it was so cool to hear how they apparently had a consistent line of communication between them through things like group chats, consistent meetings, and even that now-famous meeting at Skywalker Ranch I mentioned at the genesis of the initiative, at which they committed to what would be the big plot points and themes of the series.
- Even though the books, comics, manga, etc. are written by a variety of authors, they all keep the same feel: they’re wholesome, they’re a bit goofy, they’re pulpy, and first and foremost they are adventurous.
- Hard-core fans might be a little angry with this but The High Republic feels a bit childish sometimes. And I’m not saying that’s necessarily bad! It reminds me of young adult novels, of which I often really enjoy.
- There is a youthful pulpiness to the content, something I think is really welcome and maybe even important in space opera.
- The messages tend to be more straightforward, similar to a lot of young adult writing. But they're not meant to be philosophical books. They are action adventure books. And that sense of wonder and exploration is something well captured by each author.
- Probably like a lot of you, when I'm reading a good book or comic or manga or whatever and I come across a quote that has particular meaning to me, I write it down. And no, this series doesn't have anywhere near the amount of notes as if I read this much of Vonnegut or Ballard, but there is a respectable amount.
- There is a general dialogue about what it means to be good, what it means to fight and when it's necessary, the value of peace and second chances, and plenty more.
Conclusion
- I could spend some time talking about how I found the ending to be extremely satisfying but, honestly, I don't think that matters too much. Maybe it's a quirk of my own interests but when I massive series, I think it's kind of stupid to read it all just for a satisfying conclusion. To me, it has to be sort of a “friends you made along the way” payoff.
- And to me, it hits. by the end of the series, a character or a planet would be named, and I would flashback to all of the moments I shared with that person or place in the last many books and comics and it added considerable weight to all the later moments.
- That's not to say, there weren't decisions that I disagreed with, though. Particularly, I disliked how phase 2 and phase 3 got a bit more into the fantasy side of Star Wars rather than the science fiction side, with things like magical artifacts that can be used to manipulate the force and animals and stuff like that.
- And that’s not my favorite, but the variety of storytelling and plot lines even within a single novel or comic series means that if a character or even plot line isn’t your cup of tea, you won’t be with them for long.
- While I would consider the phase 1 and 3 adult novels essential to your understanding of the initiative, there is plenty of flexibility in a large publishing initiative like this. Like if you like Cavan Scott’s novel, the second one in the series, you might just decide to read all of the comics he wrote, and that’s okay! It can definitely be taken as more of a piecemeal amalgamation of stories rather than requiring a strict adherence to some reading order
- It's a big ask to suggest to someone to read 8+ novels, tons of comics a variety of other material, so I’m not going to do that. This is not content for everyone, and if you don’t like the feel of the first few chapters of the first book, there is plenty of other great SF and Star Wars content out there.
- But for me, the journey was worth it. Like any production with as ambitious of a scope, there were characters and concepts and plotlines I wasn’t a fan of but overall, I have this series to thank for some of my favorite Star Wars characters and hours of great reading.
- If you’re looking to immerse yourself in a vast, expansive, and thoughtfully put together universe, I hope you have as much fun with this series as I did.
- Thanks for watching
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The High Republic Publishing Initiative - Various
In 2018, Lucasfilm Publishing handpicked a group of 5 the top Star Wars writers, nicknamed “The All-Star Initiative” and gathered them at Skywalker Ranch in California to discuss the major plot points and general outline to something nicknamed “Project Luminous”
The group was soon joined by an additional small handful of authors, and the team would go on to create “The High Republic Publishing Initiative”, a massive yet cohesive set of stories set across a previously untouched 250 year time chunk in Star Wars history.
But not just through books, it started with a short story in 2020 and concluded with a comic in summer 2025, but the publishing consisted of the following mediums
- NOTE: I don’t think this initiative will be updated, but this is as of writing this review, 7/4/25.
- 8 Adult Novels
- 8 Young Adult Novels
- 10 Junior Novels
- 3 Young Reader Books
- 3 Audio Dramas
- 127 Comics
- 6 Mangas
- 32 Short Stories
- 2 Short Story Collections
- 1 Reference Books
So, join me as I attempt to do the extremely irresponsible thing of summarizing my thoughts on hundreds of hours of consumed media down into a ~15 minute review.
Introduction
- Now, I have something to admit: I am a fraud. I only read
- All of the adult novels
- All of the audio dramas
- All 127 comics
- All of the mangas
- A handful of the short stories
- … Meaning I have not read most of the children’s and young adult content, but just about everything else.
- So, like a Reddit commenter, I am here to give my opinions on something I don’t fully grasp.
- But no, all jokes aside, this will largely be a review of the backbone of the publishing initiative, the 8 adult novels, as well as what I consider the sidekick to them: the comics. But, mostly those novels.
- Speaking of what’s considered important, the way I’d consider the content is kinda like a pyramid, where you’ve got the most foundational things that happen in the initiative on the bottom layer. And those would be the adult novels. If you want to compare them to the larger Star Wars universe, these are like the movies of the initiative.
- The importance of the rest of the content is going to be hotly debated within the fandom, but I would say…
- on the next rung up you’ve probably got the Young Adult Novels and Comics,
- while a rung above that you’ve got the Mangas, Junior Novels, Young Reader Books, and Audio Dramas
- and then on the top rung you’ve got stuff like the short stories and reference books
- Again, super rough estimate on my end, the point I’m trying to make here is just that every piece of content in the initiative is not created equal, they can’t be. The most major events in the overall story of the High Republic happen in the adult novels and as you make your way up the pyramid things get more auxiliary to the main storyline of the initiative.
- And I loved how this format worked. I'll get into it more later, but this keeps the barrier of entry to something like this relatively low compared to how massive the body of works in general is.
- Let me really quickly summarize the structure of publishing as well. The High Republic Publishing initiative is divided into 3 “phases”, and each of those phases is divided into 2 or 3 “waves”. Each wave gets its own adult novel, which presents the main conflict of that wave.
- I know, it’s kind of confusing, but bear with me.
- The phases are structured like the Star Wars movies: phase one takes place, then phase 2 takes place 150 years before phase 1, and then when phase 3 comes along, it just picks up right where phase 1 ended.
- This phase structure as well as the hierarchy of works keeps the initiative focused and does a great job maintaining a cohesive plot line in what could have potentially been a really confusing bunch of works.
Building a universe
- Alright, now that we’ve done our chores and talked about the structure of the initiative, let’s talk something cool: the universe of the High Republic.
- If you didn't know it already, the High Republic is a period in the Star Wars universe that takes place about 200 years before Star Wars: Episode I: The Phantom Menace.
- This is when the republic and, more importantly, the Jedi are at their zenith. They’re sporting their flashy robes, they’re sticking to their morals, and they’re generally well liked.
- In general, this is kind of a Star Wars renaissance era. It’s a time of exploration and expansion, Jedi are exploring never before visited civilizations and welcoming them into the Republic. The Jedi are accepting; they have a very liberal and open-minded view on the force.
- It’s also a time of scientific progress, brilliant minds are supported in their creation of new technology.
- In general, vibes are good. So, let’s talk about little bit about the universe specifically within the context of the publishing initiative.
- Even if you’ve watched the Star Wars movies or even read some books or comics, a lot of the High Republic is going to feel new to you. Yah there are lightsabers, and spaceships, and the force, but most of what you’re reading page to page feels new.
- In a timeline that has otherwise become extremely bloated with authors trying to fit 100 massive events in the span of like 10 years, the authors getting to work with a relatively untouched era in Star Wars history is refreshing.
- The authors get to tell their own stories largely without interference or constraints from other main canon events, a real novelty in Star Wars storytelling.
- So, as much as anything still within Star Wars can be, this feels like the authors’ own Sci-Fi universe carved out within the Star Wars timeline.
- The big issue with something like this is, you can't rely on previously created stakes in a way that most Star Wars content does. The authors can't tie in their stories directly with something like blowing up the death star, or the battle of Endor or Palpatine's return, they have to make their own stakes.
- And that’s something I think they do really well. Literally, the first chapter of the first book describes this event called “The Great Hyperspace Disaster” and most of the books have some sort of seminal event that gets referenced repeatedly throughout the series.
- And this recurrence does a great job bolstering their importance such that by the end of reading all this media, something like “The Republic Fair on Valo” feels as much “Star Wars” to me as Order 66 or The Battle of Hoth.
- And all of those main events happen in the adult novels, so you don't have to worry about missing monumental moments if you only want to read those. But that's not to say that reading the YA books or comics or mangas won’t add depth and critical information about a bit more minor events as well.
- When I read “The Book of the New Sun”, I often found passages frustrating because they were clearly referencing something religiously or contextually that I just didn't have the background to understand.
- But even for the stuff in this series that reference content from side material like a manga or an audio drama, it doesn't feel like they just hang you out to dry. References are more like easter eggs massaged into the story than distracting references.
- Let me give an example. In one of the adult novels I read someone is walking on a new planet, and they find an abandoned Jedi ship and lightsaber. Now, when I read this, I thought that it was just a mysterious quirk of the new planet. But I learned after reading the book that apparently one of the plotlines in a young adult book centers around the Jedi that crashed and died on that planet, leaving their ship and saber there.
- Did I need to know that? No. But was the moment probably really, really cool for someone who had read the YA book? Hell yah!
- In fact, I'd even call all the phase 2, the “flashback phase” a bit unnecessary. It provides gratifying background but you can still understand what’s going on if you just read the first and third phases.
- And thus lies the beauty of the initiative: the more content you consume, the more you get out of it. And it feels *linear* and *consistent* in how it rewards readers for how much they’ve read.
Characters
- I spoke a bit about how this has the unique attribute of feeling the most cut off from traditional Star Wars as any set of content. And the place where this is probably the most apparent is in the characters.
- You’re not getting Luke Skywalker, Vader isn’t showing up, and somehow, Palpatine does not return.
- But there are a TON of new characters, and to be honest, that felt pretty overwhelming at first. So much so that, for the first few books actually, I made a document where I pasted pictures of the characters and their names underneath so whenever a character’s name was said I could be like “oh yah, he’s that guy”.
- But it definitely gets better as the series goes on. There are new characters introduced, but plenty of the main characters stick around and come into and out of book, comic, etc. storylines.
- And there are hits and misses. Some of my new favorite Star Wars characters of all time are introduced in this initiative (shoutout Ty Yorrick and Qort), but there were ones that didn’t click with me too much as well. And it’s not like I think the characters I liked less were poorly written, it's more just like when you watch a reality TV show like “The Amazing Race” or “Love Island” for you brits. When your favorite contestant is on screen, you're gonna sit up in your seat and pay extra attention and it's not like you shut the show off when they're not on screen, but it’s extra fun when they’re there.
- In fact, one of the three main Jedi really just wasn’t doing it for me but it by no means ruined things for me. There are so many characters that fit every shape, size, species, and structure that nobody is ever really dwelled upon for too long.
- And another thing that's a big benefit of being largely disconnected from the overall Star Wars storyline is that they can do whatever the hell they want with these characters. And that is a rarity in Star Wars. Most of the well-known Star Wars characters have essentially all major life events predetermined, meaning that the stakes of any story you tell about any of those characters can only be so high.
- With completely new characters in a completely new era, the sky is the limit. They can kill off any character they want. And they do. They can make any sort of galaxy-defining moments at any point, and they do that as well.
- No set of characters is complete without some killer antagonists. And, as is a recurring theme in this review, the authors of the High Republic can’t rely on the low hanging fruit most of Star Wars uses by just pitting the characters against the empire or Palpatine or some new Sith.
- One of the recurring lines in advertisement for the series was “what do the Jedi fear”, and while I thought the main villain of the initiative was a bit boilerplate, stereotypical evil dude, I think the authors hit the nail on the head with the other threats in this series, of which there are plenty.
Consistent in Spirit
- Okay, so there’s a bunch of new characters, it takes place over a million books and comics, but does it feel cohesive? Does it feel consistent? Yes.
- I think probably the most dangerous thing to an initiative like this beyond the obvious of making sure all the pieces fit together is that it has the risk of feeling like each author has their own agenda they want to push when it’s their time to shine.
- But this group of authors felt like they were all on the same page. I listened to a ton of interviews with the authors on YouTube, and it was so cool to hear how they apparently had a consistent line of communication between them through things like group chats, consistent meetings, and even that now-famous meeting at Skywalker Ranch I mentioned at the genesis of the initiative, at which they committed to what would be the big plot points and themes of the series.
- Even though the books, comics, manga, etc. are written by a variety of authors, they all keep the same feel: they’re wholesome, they’re a bit goofy, they’re pulpy, and first and foremost they are adventurous.
- Hard-core fans might be a little angry with this but The High Republic feels a bit childish sometimes. And I’m not saying that’s necessarily bad! It reminds me of young adult novels, of which I often really enjoy.
- There is a youthful pulpiness to the content, something I think is really welcome and maybe even important in space opera.
- The messages tend to be more straightforward, similar to a lot of young adult writing. But they're not meant to be philosophical books. They are action adventure books. And that sense of wonder and exploration is something well captured by each author.
- Probably like a lot of you, when I'm reading a good book or comic or manga or whatever and I come across a quote that has particular meaning to me, I write it down. And no, this series doesn't have anywhere near the amount of notes as if I read this much of Vonnegut or Ballard, but there is a respectable amount.
- There is a general dialogue about what it means to be good, what it means to fight and when it's necessary, the value of peace and second chances, and plenty more.
Conclusion
- I could spend some time talking about how I found the ending to be extremely satisfying but, honestly, I don't think that matters too much. Maybe it's a quirk of my own interests but when I massive series, I think it's kind of stupid to read it all just for a satisfying conclusion. To me, it has to be sort of a “friends you made along the way” payoff.
- And to me, it hits. by the end of the series, a character or a planet would be named, and I would flashback to all of the moments I shared with that person or place in the last many books and comics and it added considerable weight to all the later moments.
- That's not to say, there weren't decisions that I disagreed with, though. Particularly, I disliked how phase 2 and phase 3 got a bit more into the fantasy side of Star Wars rather than the science fiction side, with things like magical artifacts that can be used to manipulate the force and animals and stuff like that.
- And that’s not my favorite, but the variety of storytelling and plot lines even within a single novel or comic series means that if a character or even plot line isn’t your cup of tea, you won’t be with them for long.
- While I would consider the phase 1 and 3 adult novels essential to your understanding of the initiative, there is plenty of flexibility in a large publishing initiative like this. Like if you like Cavan Scott’s novel, the second one in the series, you might just decide to read all of the comics he wrote, and that’s okay! It can definitely be taken as more of a piecemeal amalgamation of stories rather than requiring a strict adherence to some reading order
- It's a big ask to suggest to someone to read 8+ novels, tons of comics a variety of other material, so I’m not going to do that. This is not content for everyone, and if you don’t like the feel of the first few chapters of the first book, there is plenty of other great SF and Star Wars content out there.
- But for me, the journey was worth it. Like any production with as ambitious of a scope, there were characters and concepts and plotlines I wasn’t a fan of but overall, I have this series to thank for some of my favorite Star Wars characters and hours of great reading.
- If you’re looking to immerse yourself in a vast, expansive, and thoughtfully put together universe, I hope you have as much fun with this series as I did.
- Thanks for watching
June 19, 2025
Gonna miss this series.
This was a great ending. Sure, it wasn't the greatest ending to a series ever, but it was really satisfying, had a totally different vibe to anything else in the initiative so far, and really tugged at the heart.
I am really going to miss these characters and this story. A lot. Goodbye The High Republic.
This was a great ending. Sure, it wasn't the greatest ending to a series ever, but it was really satisfying, had a totally different vibe to anything else in the initiative so far, and really tugged at the heart.
I am really going to miss these characters and this story. A lot. Goodbye The High Republic.
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June 3, 2025I can't believe it's over
June 11, 2025
No spoilers!
How do you land a plane? I cannot imagine being in Charles Soule's shoes, having to cap off several years of storytelling. There must have been a large amount of stress involved, and yet, he pulls it off incredibly well.
Trials lives up to all of my expectations for the end of The High Republic. It manages to resolve several lingering plot lines and questions that I've had throughout the initiative. There a few small complaints I had, but overall I think Trials is a masterpiece. It feels like a return to an epic scale that I personally have not felt with adult novels since Cataclysm.
I really enjoyed following the Luminous Nine in this story. Despite being a larger ensemble (not even including several other main characters present), each feels well fleshed out and had individual moments to shine. Each of them had their own motivations and backstories, built over nearly 5 years. I think it was all handled incredibly well.
When it all was said and done, more than anything else, I just felt an incredible swell of emotion. Not just for the story, which was fantastic. But, this is also an end to a chapter of my life that has been spent following along with Project Luminous. I can't thank Charles and the rest of the creative team enough for bringing us into this world they have crafted. For Light and Life.
How do you land a plane? I cannot imagine being in Charles Soule's shoes, having to cap off several years of storytelling. There must have been a large amount of stress involved, and yet, he pulls it off incredibly well.
Trials lives up to all of my expectations for the end of The High Republic. It manages to resolve several lingering plot lines and questions that I've had throughout the initiative. There a few small complaints I had, but overall I think Trials is a masterpiece. It feels like a return to an epic scale that I personally have not felt with adult novels since Cataclysm.
I really enjoyed following the Luminous Nine in this story. Despite being a larger ensemble (not even including several other main characters present), each feels well fleshed out and had individual moments to shine. Each of them had their own motivations and backstories, built over nearly 5 years. I think it was all handled incredibly well.
When it all was said and done, more than anything else, I just felt an incredible swell of emotion. Not just for the story, which was fantastic. But, this is also an end to a chapter of my life that has been spent following along with Project Luminous. I can't thank Charles and the rest of the creative team enough for bringing us into this world they have crafted. For Light and Life.
June 21, 2025
Trials of the Jedi marks the end of Phase III — and of the entire High Republic era, at least for now.
And while I really enjoyed this book (as a standalone, it’s a solid 4/5), I can’t help but feel slightly underwhelmed by it as a finale to a four-year journey. As the closing chapter of this era, I’d honestly give it more of a 3/5.
So much happens — and yet, it all feels like it’s over too quickly.
The expedition to the world of the Nameless felt like it ended almost as soon as it began. The group known as "The Nine" had so much potential — I wish we had seen more from them. More danger. More loss. More impact.
Certain revelations came too suddenly for me, without the buildup they deserved. And the Battle of Eriadu? That alone could have filled an entire novel, but here it’s packed into just a few chapters.
So in a strange way, the book felt like too much and not enough all at once. Too many plot threads crammed together, and not enough time spent on each one.
Still, I devoured it — because I love these characters. The dialogue is strong, the scenes are vivid, and all the major plot points do get addressed. It’s not a bad book by any means — just one that feels a bit rushed, especially when it should’ve been the most emotionally resonant part of the whole era.
But maybe that’s also on me.
Maybe I just wasn’t ready to say goodbye to a part of Star Wars that has been with me for four years.
And while I really enjoyed this book (as a standalone, it’s a solid 4/5), I can’t help but feel slightly underwhelmed by it as a finale to a four-year journey. As the closing chapter of this era, I’d honestly give it more of a 3/5.
So much happens — and yet, it all feels like it’s over too quickly.
The expedition to the world of the Nameless felt like it ended almost as soon as it began. The group known as "The Nine" had so much potential — I wish we had seen more from them. More danger. More loss. More impact.
Certain revelations came too suddenly for me, without the buildup they deserved. And the Battle of Eriadu? That alone could have filled an entire novel, but here it’s packed into just a few chapters.
So in a strange way, the book felt like too much and not enough all at once. Too many plot threads crammed together, and not enough time spent on each one.
Still, I devoured it — because I love these characters. The dialogue is strong, the scenes are vivid, and all the major plot points do get addressed. It’s not a bad book by any means — just one that feels a bit rushed, especially when it should’ve been the most emotionally resonant part of the whole era.
But maybe that’s also on me.
Maybe I just wasn’t ready to say goodbye to a part of Star Wars that has been with me for four years.
June 28, 2025
Wow, I can't believe it's finally done.
Dozens of short stories, over 100 comics, several Manga, an animated series, four audio dramas, and 25 novels. By far the largest multi media effort in Star Wars history, and this is the culmination (aside from a couple of unreleased comics).
Soule, my hat's off to you. You got this party started and managed to pen a satisfying conclusion. I will miss my time in the glorious era of THR, where Jedi wear fancy robes, and Everyone is all the Republic.
My only critique is how the blight and Nameless were ultimately handled left a bit to be desired. But that's more of an issue with the entire effort rather than just this one book, and, again, I think Soule did an excellent job!
Dozens of short stories, over 100 comics, several Manga, an animated series, four audio dramas, and 25 novels. By far the largest multi media effort in Star Wars history, and this is the culmination (aside from a couple of unreleased comics).
Soule, my hat's off to you. You got this party started and managed to pen a satisfying conclusion. I will miss my time in the glorious era of THR, where Jedi wear fancy robes, and Everyone is all the Republic.
My only critique is how the blight and Nameless were ultimately handled left a bit to be desired. But that's more of an issue with the entire effort rather than just this one book, and, again, I think Soule did an excellent job!
July 2, 2025
I give five stars, but hear me out: you should be aware that this final book of "The High Republic" is really tough stuff (at least it was for me). I can't say that this was a fun read. And the ending is very very dark.
June 21, 2025
They made a yin yang in the force at the end? Wtf?
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 25, 2025
Dude. I have no words.
June 18, 2025
It’s hard for me to fully express how much this book, and the entire High Republic initiative, means me to. Charles Soule had the impossible task of tying together every other book, comic, and short story into Trials of the Jedi, and he did so seamlessly. The complexities of the Jedi order and the Republic are felt throughout this story, adding even more depth to Star Wars lore. The High Republic truly made me feel seen in Star Wars and I’ll be forever grateful that these stories were brought into the world. 💛 For light and life!
July 6, 2025
The Blight is threatening to destroy everything in its path, including every being in the galaxy, which is exactly what Marchion Ro wants. He must be stopped. The Jedi hatch an ambitious plan (not based on any real evidence lol) to return as many Nameless as possible to the mysterious Planet X, hoping this will work. Meanwhile, Eriadu is the location of the final showdown between Nihil and Republic.
In the lead up to this book's release, I had enjoyed Lydia Kang's short stories based around the Eriadan conflict (I have a Star Wars Insider subscription) and thought maybe we'd get something like that for the big fight. Her writing is excellent. By contrast, Soule's prose left me frustrated. It's clunky and bogged down with so much introspection and exposition that it takes forever for the action to actually occur. Also, stretching out a large battle throughout such a large chunk of the book... I've never been a fan of that, because it never works. The pacing unsurprisingly suffered. And I don't know why the novel and the short stories needed to step all over each other, but obviously I prefer the latter! What were Joss and Pikka doing in this book anyway, apart from adding to a bloated mess?
Let's discuss the mess. This vast project has introduced many characters with many agendas. Their stories are woven throughout MG books, YA books, comics, audiobooks etc. Instead of some of those stories finding their end elsewhere, Soule tried to cram so many of them into this book. Too many threads. Too much nothing when the main plot was floundering. When you have to send a character off a cliff because you seemingly don't know how what else to do with them... yikes! Poor Burry.
Hmm. Let's try to find some positives. Erm. I like Ty. A pity she had to oh-so-conveniently leave her gear behind, because that might have been helpful. Oops - I better finish this review before I get even more grumpy. I'm not going to touch the Force-balancing thing. Maybe other people will like that.
I am not a slow reader. Usually. But this took me all week to finish. Soule's real gift is in writing comic/manga scripts, not novels. Those Darth Vader and Poe Dameron comics of his are *chef's kiss*
In the lead up to this book's release, I had enjoyed Lydia Kang's short stories based around the Eriadan conflict (I have a Star Wars Insider subscription) and thought maybe we'd get something like that for the big fight. Her writing is excellent. By contrast, Soule's prose left me frustrated. It's clunky and bogged down with so much introspection and exposition that it takes forever for the action to actually occur. Also, stretching out a large battle throughout such a large chunk of the book... I've never been a fan of that, because it never works. The pacing unsurprisingly suffered. And I don't know why the novel and the short stories needed to step all over each other, but obviously I prefer the latter! What were Joss and Pikka doing in this book anyway, apart from adding to a bloated mess?
Let's discuss the mess. This vast project has introduced many characters with many agendas. Their stories are woven throughout MG books, YA books, comics, audiobooks etc. Instead of some of those stories finding their end elsewhere, Soule tried to cram so many of them into this book. Too many threads. Too much nothing when the main plot was floundering. When you have to send a character off a cliff because you seemingly don't know how what else to do with them... yikes! Poor Burry.
Hmm. Let's try to find some positives. Erm. I like Ty. A pity she had to oh-so-conveniently leave her gear behind, because that might have been helpful. Oops - I better finish this review before I get even more grumpy. I'm not going to touch the Force-balancing thing. Maybe other people will like that.
I am not a slow reader. Usually. But this took me all week to finish. Soule's real gift is in writing comic/manga scripts, not novels. Those Darth Vader and Poe Dameron comics of his are *chef's kiss*
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June 25, 2025Star Wars: The High Republic: Trials of the Jedi | Book Review
Four and half years ago, the first novel of the High Republic publishing initiative was dropped on the world. Now, Charles Soule has capped the multi-year story with Star Wars: The High Republic: Trials of the Jedi.
Yes, there are a few additional comics to be released as part of the initiative, but this book is the finale for all intents and purposes.
This is, truly, one of the best Star Wars books that I have ever read. It may be the best. Soule manages to capture years of storytelling, wrapping up some storylines in a neat little bow while leaving others open-ended for future stories.
There will be spoilers.
Star Wars is the Force: the weirder the better.
My favorite thing in Star Wars was, is, and remains the Force. Mortis. The World Between Worlds. Teleporting Loth Wolves. The weirder the better.
The revelation of how the Shrikarai (we learned that this is the true name of the Nameless) are instrumental in “feeding” on both the dark side and the light side on their planet Sophros (we learned taht this is the true name of Planet X, the Shrikarai’s homeworld) to hold the Blight at bay from destorying the known galaxy was wild. It was weird. It was confusing. It was perfect “Force” stuff.
The Mother, the Path of the Open Hand, Marchion Ro, and the Nihil removing the Shrikarai from Soprhos, and their subsequent deaths, have thrown the balance out of whack. The Blight was unleashed on the galaxy as a response.
The fate of Avar Kriss and Elzar Mann being stuck on Sophros until enough Shrikarai are born to fight back the darkness and the light, likely until the two Jedi die, is bittersweet.
This is exactly what we want from our heroes. The Jedi are selfless, dedicate servants to the light. These two, in love, are sacrificing everything to save the galaxy. Every being in existence owes their continued existence to the two of them.
Avar and Elzar won’t be able to touch each other ever again. They have, however, found a small place where they can communicate through the Force, feel each other’s presence. Share their love. But, only briefly.
While this seemingly closes the door on future stories for Avar and Elzar, there are possibilities.
Marchion Ro’s devolution was calm chaos and made the story more interesting.
Thoughout Phase III of the High Republic publishing initiative, we’ve watched Marchion Ro go from a confident conquerer to a uninterested ruler. The conquering filled him with joy, while the ruling bored him more than he ever imagined.
He’s slowly been sacrificing parts of the Nihil to further isolate himself atop the Nihil, with even his “Ministers” not caring about killing him to take over the Nihil like a Pan Eta or Lourna Dee would’ve been.
The reveal on Sophros that he wanted to destroy the galaxy was shocking. It threw me for a loop and made me question what was going to happen for the rest of the book. Once he destroyed the Gaze Electric and the Stormwall/Occlusion Zone with it, his devolution was complete. He was no longer this brilliant mastermind trying to take over the galaxy. He was a madman trying to destroy everything, so people would remember him.
At the end, his arrest and punishment was fitting. The man determined to rule and then destroy the galaxy was imprisoned in a droid-run prison built only for him. He would grow old there. He would die there.
The man who wanted the galaxy to know his name was gone. The galaxy would forget the name Marchion Ro.
Leaving more stories open-ended is great.
The end of the High Republic publishing initiative isn’t the end of the High Republic Era which is fantastic news. Trials of the Jedi concluded the war against Marchion Ro and the Nihil, but there are enough loose ends that the stories in this period won’t end.
Our “big three” from the beginning of Avar Kriss, Elzar Mann, and Stellan Gios are gone. It’s very unlikely that we’ll see the three of them again (Though, we could get a fun book following their Padawan days.); however, there are endless options for other characters.
There is already a book based on Vernestra Rwoh (I’m coming for you at some point, Star Wars: The Acolyte: Wayseeker.). There are a lot of options out there for things that I want to see.
Here are a few:
Burryaga and his new apprentice
Imri Cantaros and his new padawan Tep Tep
Bell Zettifar and the aftermath of nearly killing and capturing Marchion Ro
Reath Silas (and his Padawan?) hunting down Azlin Rell who now has a red lightsaber
The kids from The High Republic Adventures moving on into being Jedi Knights
Arkoff’s journey through recovering from the missing leg
Terec and Ceret. Just anything about them.
Kelnacca and his Padawan Yarzion Vell
You can go forever. There’s so much to do. The future is boundless.
Four and half years ago, the first novel of the High Republic publishing initiative was dropped on the world. Now, Charles Soule has capped the multi-year story with Star Wars: The High Republic: Trials of the Jedi.
Yes, there are a few additional comics to be released as part of the initiative, but this book is the finale for all intents and purposes.
This is, truly, one of the best Star Wars books that I have ever read. It may be the best. Soule manages to capture years of storytelling, wrapping up some storylines in a neat little bow while leaving others open-ended for future stories.
There will be spoilers.
Star Wars is the Force: the weirder the better.
My favorite thing in Star Wars was, is, and remains the Force. Mortis. The World Between Worlds. Teleporting Loth Wolves. The weirder the better.
The revelation of how the Shrikarai (we learned that this is the true name of the Nameless) are instrumental in “feeding” on both the dark side and the light side on their planet Sophros (we learned taht this is the true name of Planet X, the Shrikarai’s homeworld) to hold the Blight at bay from destorying the known galaxy was wild. It was weird. It was confusing. It was perfect “Force” stuff.
The Mother, the Path of the Open Hand, Marchion Ro, and the Nihil removing the Shrikarai from Soprhos, and their subsequent deaths, have thrown the balance out of whack. The Blight was unleashed on the galaxy as a response.
The fate of Avar Kriss and Elzar Mann being stuck on Sophros until enough Shrikarai are born to fight back the darkness and the light, likely until the two Jedi die, is bittersweet.
This is exactly what we want from our heroes. The Jedi are selfless, dedicate servants to the light. These two, in love, are sacrificing everything to save the galaxy. Every being in existence owes their continued existence to the two of them.
Avar and Elzar won’t be able to touch each other ever again. They have, however, found a small place where they can communicate through the Force, feel each other’s presence. Share their love. But, only briefly.
While this seemingly closes the door on future stories for Avar and Elzar, there are possibilities.
Marchion Ro’s devolution was calm chaos and made the story more interesting.
Thoughout Phase III of the High Republic publishing initiative, we’ve watched Marchion Ro go from a confident conquerer to a uninterested ruler. The conquering filled him with joy, while the ruling bored him more than he ever imagined.
He’s slowly been sacrificing parts of the Nihil to further isolate himself atop the Nihil, with even his “Ministers” not caring about killing him to take over the Nihil like a Pan Eta or Lourna Dee would’ve been.
The reveal on Sophros that he wanted to destroy the galaxy was shocking. It threw me for a loop and made me question what was going to happen for the rest of the book. Once he destroyed the Gaze Electric and the Stormwall/Occlusion Zone with it, his devolution was complete. He was no longer this brilliant mastermind trying to take over the galaxy. He was a madman trying to destroy everything, so people would remember him.
At the end, his arrest and punishment was fitting. The man determined to rule and then destroy the galaxy was imprisoned in a droid-run prison built only for him. He would grow old there. He would die there.
The man who wanted the galaxy to know his name was gone. The galaxy would forget the name Marchion Ro.
Leaving more stories open-ended is great.
The end of the High Republic publishing initiative isn’t the end of the High Republic Era which is fantastic news. Trials of the Jedi concluded the war against Marchion Ro and the Nihil, but there are enough loose ends that the stories in this period won’t end.
Our “big three” from the beginning of Avar Kriss, Elzar Mann, and Stellan Gios are gone. It’s very unlikely that we’ll see the three of them again (Though, we could get a fun book following their Padawan days.); however, there are endless options for other characters.
There is already a book based on Vernestra Rwoh (I’m coming for you at some point, Star Wars: The Acolyte: Wayseeker.). There are a lot of options out there for things that I want to see.
Here are a few:
Burryaga and his new apprentice
Imri Cantaros and his new padawan Tep Tep
Bell Zettifar and the aftermath of nearly killing and capturing Marchion Ro
Reath Silas (and his Padawan?) hunting down Azlin Rell who now has a red lightsaber
The kids from The High Republic Adventures moving on into being Jedi Knights
Arkoff’s journey through recovering from the missing leg
Terec and Ceret. Just anything about them.
Kelnacca and his Padawan Yarzion Vell
You can go forever. There’s so much to do. The future is boundless.
August 2, 2025
This was a truly epic conclusion to years of High Republic stories! I confess that I couldn't keep up with all the books across the different age groups and formats, though I read some from each categories of adult, YA, middle grade, graphic novel, and even picture books. This format of telling an overarching story in so many ways, but attempting to allow the reader to "choose your own adventure" was ambitious and not always 100% successful, but I think this ending proved that it was worth the effort and I love that Star Wars is in this place right now.
Trials of the Jedi was a full circle moment with author Charles Soule back for the conclusion after starting it all with Light of the Jedi. I loved the character arcs for so many new and now beloved Star Wars characters. I loved learning more about the history of the Jedi, of what the Force was able to do, and what the galaxy has overcome in the past.
In many ways, this book reminded me of what it means to learn about history, to learn the stories of those who have come before us. Because so often the work of the past informs the present and will help us move forward into the future. And similarly, the past puts us in a framework beyond ourselves; that we are more than a single moment in time...we exist as part of a whole. I love that about Star Wars.
One chapter (specifically chapter 31) was my absolute favorite in this book and the epitome of this series. It nearly brought me to tears multiple times, encouraging my heart and soul for the work that I am called to right now. I even went back and relistened to parts of it several times and wrote down multiple quotes.
Highly recommend these audiobooks narrated by Marc Thompson! I can't wait to see what Star Wars books will bring us next.
"Every living thing changes everything. It's all a web; it's all connection. No one and nothing is ever alone."
"When things are dark and there's no one else, the Jedi are there. We don't have to know you, we don't want anything from you, we will not put ourselves above you because of the things we can do. We always help. We always save what we can. Even if it costs us everything. We love all beings equally, without attachment or condition. You can believe in us."
"By the Light and the Force, this moment has fallen to you. Your path will end someday. The point is to use every moment you're given to try and make things better. That is the job."
"Are you a Jedi or not? That's your decision too. Am I a Jedi? He decided he was. His body was ruined; his strength was gone. But that was alright. As long as he was alive he was a conduit for something much stronger than his ravaged body."
"The Force had [him] and it would use him as its vessel. [He] is everything living thing in the galaxy all at once, all their energy and will to live."
"I'd like to show you what the Force really is. Nothing's ever been able to stop life. Death doesn't stop life. Life always follows. There's never only dark. Light always comes. [He] speaks with his own voice, and the voice of his master, and the voice of every Jedi. For Light and Life."
Trials of the Jedi was a full circle moment with author Charles Soule back for the conclusion after starting it all with Light of the Jedi. I loved the character arcs for so many new and now beloved Star Wars characters. I loved learning more about the history of the Jedi, of what the Force was able to do, and what the galaxy has overcome in the past.
In many ways, this book reminded me of what it means to learn about history, to learn the stories of those who have come before us. Because so often the work of the past informs the present and will help us move forward into the future. And similarly, the past puts us in a framework beyond ourselves; that we are more than a single moment in time...we exist as part of a whole. I love that about Star Wars.
One chapter (specifically chapter 31) was my absolute favorite in this book and the epitome of this series. It nearly brought me to tears multiple times, encouraging my heart and soul for the work that I am called to right now. I even went back and relistened to parts of it several times and wrote down multiple quotes.
Highly recommend these audiobooks narrated by Marc Thompson! I can't wait to see what Star Wars books will bring us next.
"Every living thing changes everything. It's all a web; it's all connection. No one and nothing is ever alone."
"When things are dark and there's no one else, the Jedi are there. We don't have to know you, we don't want anything from you, we will not put ourselves above you because of the things we can do. We always help. We always save what we can. Even if it costs us everything. We love all beings equally, without attachment or condition. You can believe in us."
"By the Light and the Force, this moment has fallen to you. Your path will end someday. The point is to use every moment you're given to try and make things better. That is the job."
"Are you a Jedi or not? That's your decision too. Am I a Jedi? He decided he was. His body was ruined; his strength was gone. But that was alright. As long as he was alive he was a conduit for something much stronger than his ravaged body."
"The Force had [him] and it would use him as its vessel. [He] is everything living thing in the galaxy all at once, all their energy and will to live."
"I'd like to show you what the Force really is. Nothing's ever been able to stop life. Death doesn't stop life. Life always follows. There's never only dark. Light always comes. [He] speaks with his own voice, and the voice of his master, and the voice of every Jedi. For Light and Life."
September 6, 2025
This book was so good!!!! I can't believe it's the last book of the High Republic series. I've really enjoyed this series and I can't believe it's over. I have over 26 High Republic books, this was probably in the top 3 High Republic books and probably in the top 10 Star Wars books. It wrapped up so much story and characters that have been going over for these past four years. It felt like I was watching a movie while reading the book. I feel like they definitely left things open ended with the characters, especially with Reath searching for Azlin. I can't believe they just said Avon was dead like she faked her death or is she actually dead?? Oh I just looked her up and she was alive and I guess she is mentioned in The Acolyte: Wayseeker, which I wasn't going to read but maybe I will if it connects to characters in the High Republic. I am so glad both Ghirra and Marchion Ro got what they deserved. Ghirra not knowing what happened to her daughter and Marchion Ro spending the rest of his life alone was what they deserved. I definitely want to know what happens to Reath, Bell and Burry for sure. Burry at the end going to the Padawan that needed help the most was so sweet and so like him. I wonder if that Padawan is going to be someone important later down the line, especially since Burry can live a long time and so popular I feel like they will definitely put him in future stuff. I definitely want to know what happens to Bell too. I also can't believe they just left Avar and Elzar there, like how does that work?? they just die there or does the force keep them going forever until the balance is restored? It was pretty sad but very understanding what they had to do. I feel like all the characters have evolved so much since the first book, especially Reath. I didn't like him in the beginning but he has grown on me and him like not wanting to explore in the first book to like going out on his own at the end of this book was really cool how he changed. I like how they explained the background of the Nameless and the Blight, I wish they had shown more about how the planets had the Blight recovered, like did they stay grey and dead, I feel like they explained a little in the Interlude at the end but otherwise I would have liked more information. At first I was like why do we have this Interlude throughout the book but it definitely grew on me as the book went on. I can't believe they just let Sixbee get run over like that. Justice for Sixbee. I feel like at the end with Lina Soh talking about the Republic definitely reminded me of the prequels and it really showed how the collapse of it into the Empire was a really big deal. I definitely want to watch the Acolyte after this since it takes place a 100 years after this and see if I see any other connections to the books. I hope they make like a short story book like 50 years after the end of the Trials of the Jedi so they can update what happens to all of them like Amadeo too and Imri. This book really showed me why I like Star Wars so much and I really hope Charles Scule and the other authors continue to write Star Wars books in the future. I just can't believe it's over it's crazy.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 8, 2025
And there it is. A thing we all knew would come eventually. An ending to this colossal narrative which has shadowed so much of my, and many other's, time over the past few years. Not a dark shadow, mind you. Something comforting, the knowledge that despite it all there is something to look toward. A light amid the dark.
I remember the announcement of Project Luminous. I remember the theories that spawned once we began witnessing mentions of a 'High Republic' in stories like The Rise of Kylo Ren and Dooku: Jedi Lost. I remember the official word that we would be getting a truly expansive narrative, split between three phases, which would envelope and explore this previously uncharted region of Star Wars history. I remember receiving my paperback copy of Light of the Jedi on my birthday and re-reading the chapters that had already been released within a preview months prior. I had not expected to do that, but in the end I felt there was no good reason not to.
So often I find that my worst memories stick out more than the good. Losing good friends, an embarrassing social moment, these things are easy to recall. So it's special to have a pleasant memory to submerge myself in from time to time.
The High Republic is just about done now. The final issue of Daniel Jose Older's Adventures run and Cavan Scott's Marvel epilogue issue will cement the completion completely. That fact has not quite hit me yet, the idea that this is all over does not weigh on me as I'd expected. Instead I feel something more like... well I suppose I should actually focus on the book first.
Trials of the Jedi is not a perfect novel. It's pacing can be off, the Eriadu plot feels insubstantial, and some characters could have gotten more to do. It's not a perfect novel. Perhaps I shouldn't have given 5 stars. I don't care. It deserves every one of them. Because despite it's flaws, Trials of the Jedi is precisely what it needs to be: an ending. Though there is certainly room for many of these characters to return in stories yet to be written, this truly feels like an ending to The High Republic. The Jedi are victorious, light prevails, yet the galaxy is irrevocably altered. Small cracks have emerged which will grow and spread until the point a wave of darkness is allowed to penetrate and drown that light. But that is not this story. This is a tale of good overcoming bad, of the strength inherent in that path, and the pitiable nature of those who tread another. It is not a true story, nor should it be. It is a story of light and.... if you've come this far then you know the rest.
I could not have asked for a better ending to this story.
That is why I don't feel particularly aggrieved by this entirely necessary course the story has taken. All things end, but The High Republic has left me with something incredibly important to me.
It would be quite selfish not to let it go.
Thank you to the entire Luminous team.
For light and life.
I remember the announcement of Project Luminous. I remember the theories that spawned once we began witnessing mentions of a 'High Republic' in stories like The Rise of Kylo Ren and Dooku: Jedi Lost. I remember the official word that we would be getting a truly expansive narrative, split between three phases, which would envelope and explore this previously uncharted region of Star Wars history. I remember receiving my paperback copy of Light of the Jedi on my birthday and re-reading the chapters that had already been released within a preview months prior. I had not expected to do that, but in the end I felt there was no good reason not to.
So often I find that my worst memories stick out more than the good. Losing good friends, an embarrassing social moment, these things are easy to recall. So it's special to have a pleasant memory to submerge myself in from time to time.
The High Republic is just about done now. The final issue of Daniel Jose Older's Adventures run and Cavan Scott's Marvel epilogue issue will cement the completion completely. That fact has not quite hit me yet, the idea that this is all over does not weigh on me as I'd expected. Instead I feel something more like... well I suppose I should actually focus on the book first.
Trials of the Jedi is not a perfect novel. It's pacing can be off, the Eriadu plot feels insubstantial, and some characters could have gotten more to do. It's not a perfect novel. Perhaps I shouldn't have given 5 stars. I don't care. It deserves every one of them. Because despite it's flaws, Trials of the Jedi is precisely what it needs to be: an ending. Though there is certainly room for many of these characters to return in stories yet to be written, this truly feels like an ending to The High Republic. The Jedi are victorious, light prevails, yet the galaxy is irrevocably altered. Small cracks have emerged which will grow and spread until the point a wave of darkness is allowed to penetrate and drown that light. But that is not this story. This is a tale of good overcoming bad, of the strength inherent in that path, and the pitiable nature of those who tread another. It is not a true story, nor should it be. It is a story of light and.... if you've come this far then you know the rest.
I could not have asked for a better ending to this story.
That is why I don't feel particularly aggrieved by this entirely necessary course the story has taken. All things end, but The High Republic has left me with something incredibly important to me.
It would be quite selfish not to let it go.
Thank you to the entire Luminous team.
For light and life.
July 1, 2025
It is difficult to rate this book as a standalone as it is the culmination of several years worth of the multimedia initiative that was originally teased as “Project Luminous”.
Featuring 19 adult, young adult, comics and audio book originals, this book had the monumental task of closing out this series that was built up from scratch from a wonderful team of writers.
Without getting too much into the other books, this book really tied into a lot of Phase 2 (which I appreciated). I noticed in the reviews and comments that many people dropped off or skipped phase 2 completely and I can only feel bad for them, because this book it’s incredible with all the Phase 2 tie ins.
Charles Soule perfectly navigates the stories of so many characters that have been created over the course of 35 books, comic books, audio books and more. All of the new characters that made this series so great, having no idea what happens to them with every page turn, (except for Yoda, as we see him in the movies) get their own endings in this series for the most part. I wasn’t ready for this series to end as it still feels like they can revisit it with some of the characters that are still alive (and I hope they do), but I’m thankful that Charles Soule was the one writing this as he handles plenty of characters and locations so smoothly.
This series is the best series in Star Wars canon or EU, the writing flow of the building of characters and locations is worth the investment by any Star Wars book fan. This book would be comparable to investing time to watch all the Marvel shows and movies to get the culminating viewing experience of End Game.
Featuring 19 adult, young adult, comics and audio book originals, this book had the monumental task of closing out this series that was built up from scratch from a wonderful team of writers.
Without getting too much into the other books, this book really tied into a lot of Phase 2 (which I appreciated). I noticed in the reviews and comments that many people dropped off or skipped phase 2 completely and I can only feel bad for them, because this book it’s incredible with all the Phase 2 tie ins.
Charles Soule perfectly navigates the stories of so many characters that have been created over the course of 35 books, comic books, audio books and more. All of the new characters that made this series so great, having no idea what happens to them with every page turn, (except for Yoda, as we see him in the movies) get their own endings in this series for the most part. I wasn’t ready for this series to end as it still feels like they can revisit it with some of the characters that are still alive (and I hope they do), but I’m thankful that Charles Soule was the one writing this as he handles plenty of characters and locations so smoothly.
This series is the best series in Star Wars canon or EU, the writing flow of the building of characters and locations is worth the investment by any Star Wars book fan. This book would be comparable to investing time to watch all the Marvel shows and movies to get the culminating viewing experience of End Game.
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